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[From the Memorial History of Hartford County, Conn., by permission of 

the Publishers.] 



THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



BY W. A. M. WAINWRIGHT, M.D. 

THE history of medicine in the Connecticut Colony, for a hundred 
years after its first settlement, is meagre enough. During this 
period very few regularly graduated practitioners of the old country 
appear to have been attracted by the " opening " offered to them in 
the new. For instance, Judd, in his History of Hadley, Mass. says, 
that from the year 1667 to 1730 there was no physician or surgeon in 
Northampton, which was " a large and rich town." 

Dr. Samuel A. Green, in his " History of Medicine in Massachu- 
setts," is authority for the following statement : " Harvard College was 
founded in the year 1638 ; and during the period from this time till 
1750 there were but nine of its graduates who had ever received a 
medical degree." 

In anticipation of their exodus to this country, many ministers 
studied the medical art, so that they might be able in their, new habita- 
tion to care for the bodies as well as the souls of their flocks. . Many 
of them were able physicians ; and some, after a time, relinquished their 
ministerial duties, and confined themselves to the practice of medicine 
and surgery ; being licensed as regular practitioners by the General 
Court of the colony. The " goodwife," with her knowledge of " sim- 
ples," and the horrible compounds of bugs, animal secretions and ex- 
cretions, and the like, which were in common use, was also a medical 
power, and held her own in the practice of the healing art. Each of 
the early settlements doubtless had one or more " old women," whose 
services were usually called for in cases of sickness, and whose opinions 
were looked up to and relied upon. This was particularly the case in 
childbirth, as for many years the practice of obstetrics was entirely 
in the hands Of the midwives. In the early years of the colony, all 
that was necessary to become a " respectable practitioner " of medicine 
was to study, or, as it was often called, " to ride," with some medical 
man for a year or two, seeing his patients, and getting from him what 
medical knowledge he was able to impart. Application was then made 
to the General Court of the colony for a license to "practise Physic 
and Chirurgery." If the application was indorsed by a few respectable 
names, the license was granted, and the applicant became a " Doctor." 
There were many, of course, who practised medicine without this license, 
as it was not required by law. Any one, after " riding " with a doctor, 
could go into practice as soon as he felt able to ride alone. 



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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 2 

The earliest medical name found in the records of the colony is that 
of Dr. Bray (or Bryan) Rosseter, who was the first physician, and one 
of the most prominent men among the first settlers of Windsor in 
1G36. He was admitted to practice by the General Court of Connecti- 
cut shortly after his arrival, " being first tried and approved by Rev. 
Mr. Hooker, Rev. Mr. Stone, and old Mr. Smith, of Wethersfield, in the 
face of said Court." 

He was also a magistrate, and served as town clerk until 1652, 
about which time he moved to Guilford, where he died in 1672. In 
January, 1655-6, the town of Hartford granted £10 "towaids [the 
Rev.] Mr. Stone's charge of Phissick which he hath taken of Mr. Rosse- 
ter." The next year Mr. Stone gave, as .one reason of his proposed 
removal from Hartford, that " we have no Physician at Hartford or 
near at hand," and made it a condition of his remaining, that the church 
should engage " to procure some able phisitian to dwell and settle here 
in Hartford before the next October (1657), if it be possible that such 
a man may be obtayned." 

Stiles, in his History of Windsor, says, " The first post-mortem ex- 
amination made in the colony of Connecticut was made by Dr. Rosse- 
ter." " March 11th 1662-3. The Court allows unto Mr. Rosseter 
twenty pounds in reference to opening Kellics child, and his paynes to 
visit the Dep. Governor, and his paynes in visiting and administering 
to Mr. Talcott." 

It is not absolutely certain that this "opening Kellies child "was 
not some ante-mortem surgical operation ; but if it was post-mortem, as 
is most probable, it was the first autopsy made in New England, of 
which any record has been found, antedating by a dozen years the one 
made in Boston in 1674, an account of which is given by Dr. Green in 
his " History of Medicine in Massachusetts," and said by him to have 
been " one of the earliest recorded instances of a post-mortem examina- 
tion to be found in New England." 

From 1636 to 1652 there appears to have been but one other regu- 
larly authorized practitioner of medicine in the colony. This was 
Dr. Jasper Gunn, who came over to this country in 1635, at the age 
of twenty-nine. In May, 1636, he was made a freeman of Massachusetts, 
and settled in Roxbury. He removed to Milford, and afterward, about 
1646, to Hartford. The inventory of Giles Whiting, April, 1656, men- 
tions his indebtedness " to Jasper Gunn for physic and visits £2.10." 
In May, 1657, the General Court of Connecticut freed him from " train- 
ing, watching, and warding during his practice of Physic." Soon after 
this lie returned to Milford, where he died in 1670. In the Trinity Col- 
lege Library is a curious old Almanac published in London in 1652, by 
Sir George Wharton, which belonged to Dr. Jasper Gunn. It is in- 
terleaved, and was used by him as an account-book, and on its pages 
are charges for medical services and drugs, against many of the promi- 
nent citizens of Hartford of that day. There is also in the library a 
book which belonged to Dr. Rosseter. It is a large vellum-bound folio, 
a Commentary on Hippocrates, by Vallesius, published in Cologne in 
1588. On the titlepage is written, " Ex dono dimi Hopkins, Bray 
Rosseter his book." 

In 1652 Thomas Lord was licensed by the General Court to practise 
physic and surgery in Hartford and the neighboring towns. His fees 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 3 

were as follows : " This Court doth grant that he shall be paid by the 
County the sum of fifteen pounds for the said ensuing year, and they 
do declare that for every visit or journey that he shall take or make, 
being sent for to any house in Hartford, twelve pence is reasonable ; to 
any house in Windsor, five shillings ; to any house in Wethersfield, 
three shillings ; to any house in Farmington, six shillings ; to any house 
in Mattabeseck [Middletown] eight shillings (he having promised that 
he will require no more) .; and that he shall be freed for the time afore- 
said from watching, warding, and training, but not from finding arms 
according to law." Dr. Lord died in Wethersfield in 1662. 

In 165-4 Daniel Porter of Farmington was licensed to practise 
" Pbysic and Chirurgery," and was allowed " six pounds a year with six 
shillings to each town upon the river to exercise his art of surgery." 
He seems to have had considerable reputation as a bone-setter. In 
1670 the General Court raised his salary on the condition that he would 
instruct one or more persons in his art. Thomas Hooker, of Farming- 
ton, and Samuel Mather, of Windsor, were the two selected, and in due 
time were licensed to practise " Physick and Chyrurgy in this Colonic." 
The first really noted medical name to appear in the records of the 
" good old colony times " is that of Gershom Bulkeley. He was the 
son of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, who came from England and settled 
in Concord, Mass., in 1635. Dr. Bulkeley was born during the 
voyage. He graduated at Harvard College, and after pursuing the 
study of Divinity and Medicine for several years, removed to Connecti- 
cut. For twenty years he followed the ministry, and was pastor of the 
churches in New London and Wethersfield. In one of the Indian wars 
he was chosen surgeon to the colonial forces. He then gave up the 
ministry, and in 1686 the General Court, " being acquainted with the 
ability, skill, and knowledge of Gershom Bulkeley in the art of physic 
and chirurgery, did grant him full and free liberty and license to prac- 
tise as there shall be occasion and he shall be agreeable." From this 
it is evident that during the twenty years of his ministerial life he 
practised as well as preached. He finally removed to the east side of 
the river, afterward incorporated as Glastonbury, and for thirty years 
followed the practice of medicine. He died in Glastonbury, in 1713, 
at the age of seventy-eight years. From the inscription upon his grave- 
stone in the churchyard in Wethersfield it appears that he was regarded 
as a " man of rare abilities and extraordinary industry, excellent in 
learning, master of many languages, exquisite in his skill in Divinity, 
Physics, and Law, and of a most exemplary and Christian life. In cer- 
tain spem beatce resurrectionis repositus." Most of his medical library 
is now in the possession of Trinity College. 

Mention should be made of John Winthrop, Jr., who while Governor 
of Connecticut lived in Hartford (1657 to 1676). He was a noted 
physician and an accomplished scholar, and doubtless practised his 
profession in the colony. 

Dr. Samuel Mather, of Windsor, was born at Branford in 1677, 
graduated at Harvard College in 1698, and was licensed to practise by 
the General Court in 1702. He was held in high esteem both as a 
physician and a citizen, holding civil and military offices of importance. 
He died Feb. 6, 1745, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Samuel 
Higley, of Simsbury, was licensed to practise in 1717. He kept school 



MEMOEIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 4 

for three years, during two of which he studied medicine with Drs. 
Thomas Hooker and Samuel Mather, and was a man of considerable 
scientific attainments. He discovered a process of making steel, and 
in May, 1728, received a patent for it from the General Assembly. The 
record reads as follows : " The said Higley hath found out and ob- 
tained a curious art by which to convert, change, and transmute com- 
mon iron into good steel sufficient for any use, and that he was the 
very first that ever performed such an operation in America . . . asks 
for the privilege and license for the sole practice of the said art for a 
term of ten years. We, being willing to give all due encouragement to 
works of this nature, are pleased to condescend to this request." 

In 1722, Dr. Jonathan Bull, who,- Dr. Sumner says, "was for many 
years the physician of the county," was, after studying with a physician 
in Boston for seven years, licensed to practise medicine in Hartford. 

In 1786, Dr. Norman Morrison, a native of Scotland, bearing a 
medical diploma from the University of Edinburgh, came to this country 
and settled in Hartford. He was regarded as a learned physician, and 
became the instructor of many young men in the colony. " He died 
much loved and lamented, April 9, 1761, in y e 55 year of his age." Dr. 
Sumner says of him : " He was the first man in the colony who separated 
the practice of medicine from pharmacy and encouraged the establish- 
ment of an independent apothecary in this city [Hartford], and by so 
doing he proved himself in advance of the other physicians." 2 Dr. 
Joseph M. Toner, of Washington, D. C, in his " Contributions to the 
Annals of Medical Progress in the United States," says that Dr. John 
Morgan of Philadelphia was, in 1765, the first American physician to 
adopt and publicly advocate the theory that medical men should confine 
themselves to prescribing remedies, leaving to the apothecary the com- 
pounding of medicines." Perhaps Dr. Morgan got his ideas on this 
subject from Dr. Morrison, who had, some years before, advocated the 
same theory in Hartford. 

Jonathan Williams graduated from Yale College in 1722, and prac- 
tised medicine in Wethersfield. He died in 1738, aged thirty -two years. 

Samuel Porter, of Farmington, was licensed in 1720, and was a sur- 
geon of some repute. The following certificate is in existence : — 

" This may certify that I, the subscriber, do judge the abovesaid Thos. Thomp- 
son has a considerable insight in the art of physic and chirurgery, and has for 
many years practised the said art and with good success in his administrations. 

Samuel Porter, allowed Chirurgeon. 
" Farmington, May the 12th, 1721." 

Among the early physicians of Farmington were Drs. Hart, Judd, 
Stanley, Thompson, and Wadsworth. Little is known concerning them. 

1 Two establishments for the sale of drugs and medicines were opened in Hartford in 
1757 : one by Dr. Sylvanus Gardiner, an eminent physician of Boston, who set up here a 
branch of his establishment in that city for the importation and sale of drugs, intrusting the 
business to a junior partner, Dr. William Jepson, under the firm name of Gardiner & Jepson ; 
the other by Dr. Daniel Lothrop, of Norwich, in connection with Solomon Smith. Dr. Lo- 
throp, " the first druggist in Norwich, and probably the first in Connecticut who kept any 
general assortment of medicines for sale," was a graduate of Yale College, and had prosecuted 
his professional studies in London. Solomon Smith was one of his apprentices and students. 
In July, 1760, "Lothrop & Smith, at their store in King [now Main] Street," advertised "just 
imported from London, a large and universal assortment of medicines genuine and of the best 
kind, sets of surgeon's instruments," etc. 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 5 

Dr. Timothy Hosmer was born in West Hartford, but began medical 
practice in Farmington, and resided there many years. He served in the 
Revolutionary War as a surgeon, and after leaving the army returned to 
Farmington, where he resided until 1790, when he removed to the State 
of New York, and was appointed the first judge of Ontario County. 

Dr. John Hart, a native of Kensington, was also a surgeon in the 
Revolutionary War. He came to Farmington at some time during 
the war, and remained tbere until about 1798, when he entered the 
naval service of the United States, and soon after died at sea. 

Dr. James Hurlburt was born at Berlin in 1717, and for many 
years practised medicine in his native town. He was a noted character 
of his time, learned, eccentric, and unfortunate. He died penniless, and 
but for the friendship of one of the patrons of his early days, would 
have died homeless as well. The last years of his life were spent in 
Wethersfield, where he died April 11, 1794, aged seventy-seven years. 

Dr. Alexander Wolcott, a distinguished practitioner of Windsor, 
was born Jan. 7, 1712. He was a son of Governor Roger Wolcott, 
and a great-grandson of Henry Wolcott, the first ancestor of the family 
in Connecticut. He studied medicine with Dr. Norman Morrison, and 
about the year 1740 began the practice of his profession in his native 
town, where he lived honored and respected until his death, in 1795. 

A word must be said of " Dr. Primus," who practised medicine with 
much success, and gained considerable reputation for being a skilful 
physician. Primus was a negro slave, and for many years a faithful 
servant of Dr. Wolcott. He accompanied the Doctor on his medical 
drives, and helped him in compounding medicines, etc. In his old age, 
and as a reward for his faithful service, the Doctor gave him his liberty. 
Primus very soon went to the other side of the river, and, as " Dr. 
Primus," obtained a considerable practice, often running across the 
tracks of his former master. 

Another prominent medical name connected with Windsor is that 
of Dr. Elihu Tudor, son of the Rev. Samuel Tudor, and born in that 
town, Feb. 3, 1732. He graduated from Yale College in 1750, and 
studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Gale, of Killingworth, who was a 
famous physician in his day. Dr. Tudor went to London in 1762, and 
pursued his medical studies there for two years, after which he returned 
and settled in East Windsor, where he practised for many years. His 
reputation as a surgeon was at one time equal if not superior to that of 
any other in New England. He was one of the founders of the Con- 
necticut Medical Society, and its second vice-president. He died in 
1826, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. 

Dr. Timothy Mather also practised in Windsor. He died April 5, 
1788, aged thirty-four years. 

Dr. Charles Mather graduated at Yale College in 1763. He prac- 
tised in East (now South) Windsor until about 1795, when he removed 
to Hartford, where he gained considerable reputation, especially in the 
treatment of the diseases of women. He died in 1822. 

Dr. Christopher Wolcott also practised in Windsor. He was one of 
the founders of the Hartford County Medical Society. 

Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, of Hartford, was in the last quarter of the 
eighteenth century one of the most eminent practitioners of the county, 
and ranked among the first physicians of the State, if not at the head 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 6 

of the profession. He was born at Waterbury, June 19, 1750. He 
practised for some years (1776 to 1784) with Dr. Seth Bird, of Litch- 
field, with whom he studied medicine, and then removed to Hartford, 
where he continued in practice during his life. He was a learned man 
outside of his profession, and a poet and political writer of much note 
in his day. In 1784 he received an honorary degree from Yale Col- 
lege. He was one of the founders of the Connecticut Medical Society. 
He died April 14, 1801, in the fifty-first year of his age. 

Josiah Rose, a native of Wethersfield, was a leading physician and 
surgeon in his day. He died in 1786, aged seventy years. 

Dr. William Jepson was a prominent physician of Hartford, in the 
last half of the last century (see note on a previous page). 

Dr. Isaac Mosely, graduated from Yale in 1762, was a practising 
physician of Glastonbury. At the outbreak of the Revolution he re- 
moved to England, his sympathies being with the mother country. 

Dr. Elizur Hale was also a practitioner, and a native of Glastonbury. 
He graduated from Yale College in 1742. His son Elizur was a practi- 
tioner in the same town. He died Dec. 6, 1796. 

Dr. Aaron Roberts, of Cromwell, served throughout the Revolution- 
ary War, and settled in New Britain in 1783. He died in that town, 
Nov. 21, 1792, aged sixty-two years. 

Asaph Coleman, born in Colchester, began the practice of medicine 
in Glastonbury in 1774. He served throughout the Revolution as a 
surgeon of Connecticut troops. He was one of the founders of the 
Hartford County Medical Society. He died Nov. 15, 1820, aged 
seventy-three years. 

Dr. Eliakim Fish, a prominent physician of Hartford, was born in 
1741, and graduated from Yale College in 1760. He was the first presi- 
dent of the Hartford County Medical Society. He died May 7, 1804. 

Dr. Josiah Belden was born in Wethersfield, March 29, 1768, and 
graduated from Yale College in 1787, at the age of nineteen years. He 
was a pupil of Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, and settled in his native town, 
where he was held in great esteem both as a physician and as an up- 
right and godly man. He died June 6, 1818, at the age of forty, of 
spotted fever, in the fatal epidemic of that disease. 

The Hartford County Medical Society was established Sept. 25, 1792. 
On the 19th of the April preceding, a meeting of the physicians and 
surgeons of the county had been held at Hartford, in accordance 
with a request from the Medical Society of New Haven County, which 
had been established in 1784. The object of this meeting was to appoint 
delegates " to unite with delegates from the several counties in the State 
(in a general convention at Hartford in May next ensuing) in fram- 
ing a General Bill of Incorporation of the Faculty thro'out this State, 
and to present the same, that it may be passed into an Act by the then 
convened General Assembly." Dr. Elihu Tudor Avas chairman of this 
meeting, and Dr. Elihu H. Smith, clerk. The convention was held at 
the time appointed, and the Act duly passed by the General Assembly, 
and " agreeable to Act," etc., the first meeting of the Hartford County 
Medical Society was held at Hartford, Sept. 25, 1792. From that time 
to the present, a period of ninety-two years, a meeting of this society 
has been held each year at Hartford. The officers of this first meeting 
were Dr. Eliakim Fish, moderator ; Dr. Elihu II. Smith, clerk ; and 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 



Dr. John Indicott, treasurer. The delegates elected to represent the 
county at the first meeting of the Connecticut Medical Society, which 
was held at Middletown on the second Tuesday of October, 1792, were 
Dr. Eliakim Fish, Dr. Elihu Tudor, Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, Dr. Josiah 
Hart, and Dr. Samuel Flagg. The first roll of membership had forty- 
one names, comprising most if not all of the prominent medical men in 
the county. They were as follows : — 



Howard Alden. 
John Bestor. 
Eliphalet Back. 
Isaiah Chapman. 
Mason F. Cogswell. 
Asaph Coleman. 
Solomon Everett. 
Eliakim Fish. 
Samuel Flagg. 
Samuel Flagg, Jr., 
Amos Granger. 
George Griswold. 
Joseph Hale. 



Josiah Hart. 
John Hart. 
Asa Hillyer. 
Josiah Holt. 
Lemuel Hopkins. 
John Indicott. 
Jason Jerome. 
Joseph Jewett. 
Charles Mather. 
Charles Mather, Jr. 
Titus Merriman. 
Dwell Morgan. 
Abner Moseley. 
Mark Newell. 



George Olcott. 
Caleb Perkins. 
John Potter. 
Josiah Root. 
John Skinner. 
Elihu H. Smith. 
Adna Stanley. 
Eli Todd. 
Elihu Tudor. 
Edward Tudor. 
Theodore Wadsworth. 
Sylvester Wadsworth. 
Christopher Wolcott. 



Timothy Hall. 

There are at this date one hundred and eleven names upon its roll 
of membership. It would be impossible in this article to mention the 
names of all who have died since the society was founded, although 
something could be said of each one who " fought the good fight and 
kept the faith." It must suffice to mention some few of the more 
prominent medical names of the county during the present century. 

Dr. Elihu H. Smith, the first clerk of the County Society, was born 
at Litchfield, Sept. 4, 1771, and graduated from Yale College in 1786. 
He first settled in Hartford, where he practised medicine until 1793, 
when he removed to New York, and in 1796 was appointed physician to 
the New York Hospital. He was a man of considerable literary attain- 
ments. In 1797 he published an opera in three acts, entitled " Edwin 
and Angelina," and was the supposed author, in 1798, of " Andre," 
a five-act tragedy. He fell a victim to the yellow fever, September, 
1798, at the age of twenty-seven years, in the epidemic of that year. 

Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell was born at Canterbury, Sept. 17, 1761, 
and graduated from Yale College in 1780. He is said to have been the 
" youngest scholar, but the most distinguished, of his class." He studied 
medicine with his brother, and was associated with him in practice in 
Stamford and afterward in New York. In 1789 he settled in Hartford 
and became a prominent physician in that city, and noted as a skilful 
surgeon. He ligated the carotid artery in 1803, " at a time when it 
had been attempted by no other surgeon in America." It was mainly 
by his efforts that the Americau Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb was 
established in Hartford. His daughter, Alice Cogswell, was a mute, 
and the Asylum was the result of his endeavors to ameliorate her 
unhappy condition. He died Dec. 17, 1833, aged seventy-two years. 

Dr. Sylvester Wells came to Hartford in 1806. He was a brilliant 
man, and became noted for his extreme political views, being a prominent 
Democrat. His religious and medical views were also extreme. He had 
many friends, and made many enemies. He lived to an advanced age. 



MEMORIAL HISTOEY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 8 

Dr. Eli Todd, one of the most prominent men of his time, was born 
in New Haven, July 22, 1769, and graduated from Yale College in 
1787. He began the practice of medicine in Farmington. At the age 
of fifty he removed to Hartford, where he remained until his death. 
He was the first to call public attention to the condition of the insane 
in this State, and the necessity of an asylum for these unfortunates, and 
it was owing mainly to his efforts that the Retreat for the Insane was 
established in Hartford. He was its first superintendent, and retained 
the position until his death, which occurred in November, 1833. 

Dr. John L. Comstock was a surgeon in the War of 1812. He 
resided in Hartford, and was the author of several popular books on 
natural philosophy, chemistry, geology, physiology, etc. 

Dr. Elijah F. Reed was for many years a successful practitioner in 
East Windsor. In 1848 he published a " History of Febrile Diseases," 
occurring in his practice between the years 1779 and 1837. 

Dr. William Tully, who, his biographer says, " was doubtless the 
most learned and scientific physician of New England," was born at 
Saybrook Point, Feb. 18, 1785, and graduated from Yale College in 1806. 
He studied medicine with Dr. Mason F. Cogswell, and afterward with 
Dr. Eli Ives, of New Haven. In October, 1810, he was, after examina- 
tion, licensed by the Connecticut Medical Society to practise medicine 
and surgery ; and in 1819 the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine 
was conferred upon him by Yale College. Early in life he devoted him- 
self to the study of botany, and afterward from his writings and teach- 
ings became noted for his knowledge of the Materia Medica. He first 
practised in Enfield, then in Milford, and afterward in Middletown. In 
June, 1822, he removed to East Hartford, from which place he was 
called in 1826 to fill the chair of Theory and Practice in the Vermont 
Academy of Medicine. In 1829 he succeeded Dr. Eli Ives as Professor 
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Medical Department of Yale 
College. He resigned his professorship in 1841, and in 1851 removed to 
Springfield, Mass., where he died Feb. 28, 1859, aged seventy-four years. 

Dr. Samuel B. Woodward was born at Torrington, June 10, 1787, 
and at twenty-one years of age was licensed to practise medicine by the 
Connecticut Medical Society. He settled in Wethersfield, and became 
eminent for his professional abilities. He was one of the most active 
and earnest workers for the establishment of the Retreat for the Insane 
in Hartford, and about the year 1830 was elected first superintendent 
of the State Lunatic Asylum at Worcester, Mass., which office he held 
thirteen years. He was the first president of the Association of Super- 
intendents of Insane Asylums in the United States, which was founded 
in 1844. A few years before his death, and on account of ill health, 
he gave up his position in the asylum at Worcester, and removed to 
Northampton, where he died Jan. 3, 1850, aged sixty-three years. 

Dr. Amariah Brigham was born at New Marlborough, Mass., Dec. 
26, 1798, and early in life began the study of medicine with Dr. E. C. 
Peet, of Marlborough, and afterward with Dr. Plumb, of Canaan. He 
began the practice of medicine before he was twenty-one years of age, 
in Enfield, Mass., where he remained two years, after which he removed 
to Greenfield, Mass., where he practised seven years. He then went 
to Europe, remaining abroad about two years. In 1831 he settled in 
Hartford, and in 1840 was chosen superintendent of the Retreat for 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 9 

the Insane in that city. This position he retained until the fall of 
1842, when he was chosen superintendent of the Insane Asylum at 
Utica, New York, which office he held until his death, Sept. 8, 1849. 
He was the author of several books upon subjects connected with his 
specialty, and was the founder and editor of the first journal in the 
United States devoted exclusively to the subject of insanity. 

Dr. Edwin Wells Carrington, a prominent physician of Farmington, 
was born at Woodbridge (now Bethany), July 8, 1805, and graduated 
from the medical department of Yale College, March 4, 1828. He 
settled in Parmington, where he remained in active practice until his 
death, Feb. 8, 1852, at the age of forty-seven years. 

Dr. Archibald Welch was born in Mansfield, March 13, 1794. In 
September, 1816, he was licensed to practise medicine by the board of 
medical censors of Windham County. In 1832 he removed to Weth- 
ersfield to take the place of Dr. S. B. Woodward, upon the removal of 
the latter to Worcester. He removed to Hartford in 1848, and prac- 
tised there during the remainder of his life. He was killed May 6, 1853, 
in the Norwalk drawbridge disaster on the New York and New Haven 
Railroad, while returning with other delegates from the meeting of the 
American Medical Association, which had been held in New York City. 

Dr. George Sumner was born in Pomfret, Dec. 13, 1794, graduated 
from Yale College in 1813, and received his degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1817. He went to Hart- 
ford, Jan. 1, 1819, and practised his profession in that city until his 
death, which occurred Feb. 20, 1855. He was a man of more than 
ordinary attainments, and an honored and successful practitioner. He 
was the Professor of Botany in Trinity College for more than twenty 
years, and was the author of a valuable work on that science. He was 
one of the founders of the Retreat for the Insane, and a most energetic 
and zealous worker in its behalf. At the death of Dr. Todd he was 
unanimously elected to fill the office of superintendent ; but he de- 
clined the offer, though he remained a director and a medical visitor 
until his death. 

From the year 1855 to 1870 there were but few deaths among 
the medical practitioners of the county. 

William S. Pierson, M.D., of Windsor, a descendant of the Rev. 
Abraham Pierson, who emigrated from England in 1640, was born 
at North Killing-worth, Nov. 17, 1787, graduated from Yale College 
in 1808, and received his medical degree from Dartmouth College in 
1813. After practising his profession in his native town for a few 
months, he removed to Durham, where he remained four j r ears, and 
then, in 1818, removed to Windsor, where he spent the remaining 
forty-two years of his life. It was the custom in those days for the 
people of a town, when they were in want of a physician, to extend to 
him a formal invitation to settle among them ; and it was in answer to 
such an invitation that Dr. Pierson went to Windsor. He died July 16, 
1860, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. 

Jared Whitfield Pardee, M.D., was born at East Haven, Jan. 2, 
1792, graduated from Yale College, and received his medical degree 
from the same institution. He settled in Bristol, where he practised 
for many years, and where he died Jan. 7, 1867, aged seventy-five 
years. 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 10 

During the next decade, a number of physicians, prominent in 
their profession, dropped from the ranks ; among them were the 
following : 

Henry Holmes, M.D., a genial gentleman of the old school, was 
born at Litchfield, Feb. 14, 1795, and graduated from the medical de- 
partment of Yale College in 1825. He first practised in Durham, and 
removed to Hartford in 1833, where he remained until his death, July 
31, 1870, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. 

Samuel B. Beresford, M.D., well known throughout the State as a suc- 
cessful physician, a skilful surgeon, and an accomplished gentleman, was 
born in Dutch Guiana, July 5, 1806. In 1826 he received a surgeon's 
diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh, and a degree 
in medicine from the University of Edinburgh. On the 3d of Novem- 
ber of the same year he was made a member of the Royal College of 
Surgeons in London. He came to Hartford, May 12, 1834, with his 
father, Dr. James Beresford, who was also a member of the Royal Col- 
lege of Surgeons of London, and a surgeon in the British army. 
Father and son practised together until the death of the former, March 
4, 1843. Dr. James Beresford was born Jan. 8, 1783. Dr. Samuel B. 
Beresford remained in Hartford in active practice until 1870, when he 
was obliged to relinquish it on account of ill health. He died at 
Hartford, Oct. 13, 1873, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

Dr. Albert Morrison, of Windsor, was born at Hebron, March 13, 
1820, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
New York City, in 1847. His death was a very sad one. While driv- 
ing one of his cows from the railroad track, he was struck by the 
locomotive of a passing train and instantly killed. " He died on the 
18th of July, 1873, and was buried from the church which he so 
dearly loved. The attending crowd bore witness to the honor and 
respect in which he was held." 

William R. Brownell, M.D., was born at Providence, March 30, 
1828, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
New York City, in 1851. He settled in Hartford, where he practised 
until 1861, when he entered the service of the United States and 
served as a surgeon in the army throughout the Civil War. At the 
close of the Rebellion, in 1865, he returned to Hartford and resumed 
the practice of his profession. He died at Hartford, Dec. 1, 1873. 

Lucien S. Wilcox, M.D., was born in Granby, July 17, 1826. He 
graduated from Yale College in 1850, and received his medical de- 
gree from the same institution in 1855. In 1857 he settled in Hart- 
ford, where he remained until his death. In 1877 he was elected to 
the Chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the medical 
department of Yale College, which he held at the time of his death, 
which occurred Nov. 26, 1881. 

James C. Jackson, M.D., was born at Cornish, New Hampshire, 
Aug. 22, 1818, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1844, and re- 
ceived his degree of Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, in 1847. He settled in Hartford, where he remained 
in active practice until his death. He obtained considerable reputa- 
tion as an obstetrician, and his practice in that branch of the profession 
was very large. He died from pneumonia, Feb. 7, 1882, aged sixty- 
four years. 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 11 

George B. Hawley, M.D., was born at Bridgeport, Feb. 13, 1812, 
graduated from Yale College in 1833, and from the medical depart- 
ment of the same college in 1835. In 1836 he became associated with 
Dr. Silas Fuller, then superintendent of the Retreat for the Insane 
at Hartford. In 1840 he commenced general practice in Hartford. 
Dr. Hawley was the founder of the Hartford Hospital, and it is owing 
chiefly to his untiring labors and keen oversight that this institution 
is so admirably adapted for carrying out the charitable purposes for 
which it was established. He began his woi'k for the Hospital in 1854, 
and from that time it became the work of his life, and he was the lead- 
ing spirit in its management until his death, which took place April 18, 

1883, at the age of seventy-one years. To Dr. Hawley is also due in 
a large measure the founding of the Old People's Home in Hartford. 
A history of both of these institutions, as well as that of the American 
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and the Retreat for the Insane, will 
be found in another part of this volume. It is to be noted, however, 
that the first promoters of all of these noble charities were members 
of the medical profession. " By their works shall ye know them." 

Charles W. Chamberlain, M.D., was born at Providence, July 21, 
1844, graduated from Brown University in 1867, and from the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1871. He settled in 
Hartford soon after his graduation, and early in his career turned his 
attention to sanitary matters and became an authority throughout the 
State on questions of public hygiene. It was in a great measure due 
to his efforts that a State Board of Health was established by the 
legislature of Connecticut. He was appointed its first secretary 
and did much toward making it effective. He was Secretary of the 
Connecticut Medical Society from 1876 to 1883. He died Aug. 21, 

1884, in the forty-first year of his age. 

Harry Allen Grant, M.D., was born at St. Simon's Island, Georgia, 
Jan. 23, 1813. He graduated at Union College in 1830, received his 
medical education at the Baltimore Medical College, began practice 
in Albany, New York, and settled in Hartford in 1837. Here he re- 
mained for twelve years, when, owing to ill health, he was obliged to 
give up the practice of his profession. He died at Enfield, Nov. 30, 
1884, in the seventy-second year of his age. 

The following is a list of physicians of Hartford County who 
served in the War of the Rebellion : — 

Matthew T. Newton May 13, 1861-Feb. 17, 1864. 

Benjamin N. Comings Nov. 6, 1861-Jan. 26, 1863. 

George Clary Nov. 9, 1861-April 25, 1866. 

William E. Brownell 1 Nov. 9, 1861-Dec. 2, 1864. 

Henry P. Stearns April 18, 1861-July 31, 1861. 

Samuel W. Skinner May 22, 1861-Sept. 25, 1S65. 

Eobert E. Ensign Sept. 2, 1861-Jan. 3, 1862. 

George A. Hurlburt 1 Dec. 11, 1861-Ang. 2, 1865. 

Charles R. Hart Dec. 27, 1861-Aug. 25, 1865. 

Nathan Mayer Mar. 10, 1862-June 24, 1865. 

Levi Jewett July 15, 1862-Jan. I, 1865. 

1 Died since the war. 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTF. 12 

Abner S. Warner July 28, 1862-Jan. 28, 1863. 

Edmund M. Pease Aug. 16, 1862-Jan. 9, 1864. 

Sabin Stocking 1 Aug. 29, 1862-July 19, 1865. 

Jonatban S. Curtis Sept. 15, 1862-Dec. 11, 1862. 

Wharton H. Godard Oct. 2, 1862-Aug. 26, 1863. 

H. Clinton Bunce ...... Oct. 10, 1862-Oct. 22, 1863. 

Levi S. Pease 1 Nov. 21, 1862-Aug. 28, 1863. 

Cbarles J. Tennant Feb. 21, 1863-June 16, 1865. 

William B. North ...... March 20, 1863-May 9, 1864. 

Besides the Hartford County Medical Society, of which mention 
has already been made, there have been three others established in the 
county ; namely, the Hopkins Medical Society, the Hartford Medical 
Society, and the Medical Journal and Library Association (Hartford). 

The Hopkins Medical Society was founded June 14, 1826, and took 
its name from Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, of Hartford. It was composed of 
the leading medical men of this region, its membership not being 
confined to Hartford County. Its meetings were held quarterly, usu- 
ally at Hartford, and continued until about 1844, at which time the 
organization went out of existence. 

The Hartford Medical Society was established Aug. 27, 1846, in the 
city of Hartford, and is still in existence, holding its meetings on the 
first and third Mondays of each month. 

The Medical Journal and Library Association of Hartford was 
organized in January, 1873. Its object was "to establish a library of 

medical books and journals, and to 
present and discuss topics of profes- 
sional and scientific interest." 

The honor of the discovery of 
anaesthesia belongs to Hartford 
County, although it does not abso- 
lutely belong to the history of its 
medical men. As anaesthesia was, 
however, of such momentous impor- 
tance to them, as well as being the 
most inestimable boon that has ever 
been vouchsafed to suffering human- 
m I ity, it seems fitting that the history 
: | of its discovery should be recorded 
•J upon these pages. 
a Horace Wells, the discoverer of 

V anaesthesia, was a practising dentist 
residing in Hartford. He was born 
at Hartford, Windsor Co., Vermont, 
Jan. 21, 1815, and died in New York 
City, Jan. 24, 1848, in the thirty- 
fourth year of his age. In 1834- 
1836 he studied and practised den- 
tistry in Boston, and in 1836 he removed to Hartford, where he 
practised until his death. The story of his great discovery is told in 

1 Died since the war. 




DE, HORACE WELLS. 



MEDICAL HISTORY. 13 

the following letter from Dr. John M. Riggs, who was a student in 
the office of Dr. Wells, and a practising dentist in Hartford at the time 
of the discovery. He was an eye-witness of Dr. Wells's first experi- 
ment, assisted him in working out his great idea, and is thoroughly 
conversant with all the facts connected with Dr. Wells's practice and 
his life. 

Hartford, March 16, 1885. 
Dr. W. A. M. Wainwright : 

Dear Doctor, — You ask for a concise statement of facts concerning the dis- 
covery of anaesthesia ; it is as follows : On the evening of Dec. 10, 1844, there was 
an exhibition of "laughing gas" for amusement in Union Hall, twenty-five cents 
admission, by Mr. G. Q. Colton, at which exhibition Dr. Horace Wells was present. 
During the exciting stage of the administration of the gas one man rushed over 
the seats and, falling, ahraded the skin on his leg, but was not conscious of it till 
some twelve or fifteen minutes after, when it began to pain him. Dr. Wells caught 
at the length of the period of insensibility, and remarked, " I can extract a tooth 
from one under its influence, without pain." At the close of the exhibition Dr. 
Wells came to my office and we there canvassed till near midnight the whole 
subject as to its safety and the degree of inhalation. As we had resolved to push 
the inhalation much farther than for a mere exhibition for fun, we naturally 
looked for a patient upon whom to make the trial ; but the chances of the death 
of said patient confronting us, Dr. Wells volunteered to be the patient and to make 
the trial on himself, charging me to stand by and care for him. The next morn- 
ing, Dec. 11, 1844, as per agreement, Dr. Wells came into my office and said, "I 
am ready." We repaired to his office ; he took a seat in his operating-chair, 
I examined the tooth, and he took the bag in his own hands and inhaled the 
gas ; as he lost control of the muscles of his arms his elbows slipped off from the 
arms of the chair, dragging the gas-tube from his mouth ; his head dropped back 
on the head-rest and I slipped the forceps on the tooth (a left superior molar) 
and extracted it. He soon came out of its effects, blew out the blood from his 
mouth, asked if it was out, and on seeing it, with a gesture of the hand, ex- 
claimed, " A new era in tooth-pulling ! " No one administered the gas to Wells ; 
he assumed sole responsibility of the act. Mr. G. Q. Colton, the maker of the 
gas, Mr. Samuel Cooley, and one whose name has escaped me, w r ere present, near 
the door. From that time onward Dr. Wells and myself gave the gas and 
extracted teeth as patients presented themselves. All would not take it ; there 
was great fear lest it would cause death ; only two physicians of our city (young- 
men) approved of the administration of the gas or took any interest in the 
discovery, and these gentlemen -performed several painless surgical operations 
under the influence of the gas administered by Dr. Wells himself. One or two 
months subsequent to the discovery Wells went to Boston and told his discov- 
ery to Dr. W. T. Morton (a former student of Wells). Some three years prior 
to the discovery Drs. Wells and Morton formed a partnership to open a dental 
office in Tremont Street, Boston. Wells soon dissolved the partnership, sold out 
to Morton, and returned to Hartford until the events of Dec. 10 and 11, 1844. 
In 1846 Dr. Morton came to Hartford on his summer vacation and reqivested Dr. 
Wells to show him how to make the gas. Dr. Wells referred him to Dr. Jack- 
son, a chemist of Boston, as he would tell him all about it. Morton went to 
Jackson, and he told him to use sulphuric ether, as it was similar in its effects, 
and could be obtained with much less trouble. Morton testifies to this, and Dr. 
Jackson, also. Morton procured some ether, tried it on himself and on a patient, 
and then laid claim to the discovery of anaesthesia, which Dr. Wells had dis- 
covered twenty-two months before through the agency of nitrous oxide gas, as 
related above. Nor is this all ; the gas was in continuous use in Wells's and my 
own office from the date of discovery to and after the time when Morton made 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY. 



14 



his claim. Morton quietly obtained a patent for letheon (a misnomer), which 
patent was pronounced unpatentable (because of former use), in a suit in the 
United States District Court of New York. There is much more concurrent and 
corroborative proof of my statement, which will appear in my unpublished 
" Minute History of the Discovery of Anaesthesia." 

Very respectfully yours, 




That this is the true history of the discovery of anaesthesia in the 
opinion of the medical profession throughout the State of Connecticut, 
is proved by the following minute, which was adopted without a dis- 
senting voice at the annual meeting of the State Medical Society, held 
at New Haven, May 25, 1876 : — 

" In reference to so much of the president's address as relates to the discov- 
ery of anaesthesia, this convention deems it proper to place upon its record at 
this time the unanimous conviction of its members that to the late Dr. Horace 
"Wells, of Hartford, belongs all the honor of this invaluable discovery. 

"The proof of this is established by numerous irrefragable facts now before 
the world ; by the published opinions of many learned and distinguished mem- 
bers of the medical profession, and others both at home and abroad ; and by the 
unanimous verdict of the American Medical Association." 





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